


Fourth of July

by RebaK1tten



Series: Holidays with Venom [6]
Category: Venom (Movie 2018)
Genre: Political, Reba agrees with Eddie, You know Eddie's not pleased with what's happening
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-01
Updated: 2019-07-01
Packaged: 2020-05-31 13:35:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 955
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19427017
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RebaK1tten/pseuds/RebaK1tten
Summary: “Vee, do you know what this holiday is about?”Flags and barbeques, is the quick answer. Mattresses. Again.





	Fourth of July

**Eddie? Eddie, what are we going to do for the holiday next week?**

“What holiday?” he asks, barely glancing up from his laptop when he hears the voice in his head. He’s doing some research for an upcoming article and unfortunately that means ignoring Venom. As much as Venom can ever be ignored, of course. He stops and tries to remember what holiday it could be, since he doesn’t have to go to an office, he can have holidays any time he wants. But Venom has become more and more aware of holidays. It’s Eddie’s own fault, really.

**The Fourth of July. I saw it on television. People have barbeques and go to the beach and things. They eat cheeseburgers. What are _we_ going to do, Eddie? **

Eddie sighs, scrubbing a hand through his hair. He needs a hair cut again. Just because he’s not in an office or on television, doesn’t mean he should let himself go. “Fourth of July. Huh. Actually, I’m not much of a Fourth of July guy, especially not lately.” He can feel the confusion from his partner and asks, “Vee, do you know what this holiday is about?”

 **Flags and barbeques** , is the quick answer. **Mattresses. Again.**

“Yeah, we do seem to have a mattress problem.” Eddie saves his files and puts the laptop on the floor next to him. “But that’s really the least of the problems that needs addressing.”

Venom pokes out of Eddie’s shoulder, small shiny head bobbing in front of him. **What are the problems? I like it here. I thought you like it here, too.**

“I do like California, and San Francisco specifically, but we’re in a tiny little pocket of a state that’s in a big country in the bigger world. You understand about nations, and how we’re split up, right?” Eddie asks, thinking of the travel programs Venom likes to watch. Especially when they combine travel and food.

The head in front of him bobs, big grin on their face. **Lots of nations around the world and they have different languages and eat different things. Like lamb. And goat.**

“Yeah, goat,” Eddie says, thinking of where that came from. Probably that Andrew guy. “So anyway, you know that we have different nations and right now, our nation is…” He stops again, trying to figure out how to put something so foreign into words for his alien partner. “Right now, we have a leader and a government – you know what that is, right – who are doing things that a lot of people disagree with. Stuff I hate and that makes me ashamed of who we are. We say we want to feed the hungry and help the sick and bring people up, but we’re not doing that.”

He tries to let the pictures from the news go through his head and he doesn’t even have to work to make his anger, sadness and a fear come through. **Why don’t people want to take care of each other?**

“Some people still do, but something got fucked up and now, some people are deciding who is important enough to get into the country, or what women should do with their bodies and… looking at the color of people and putting children into cages like they’re dogs up for adoption, but animals up for adoption get beds to sleep on and…it’s fucked up, Vee, and I just don’t think I can wave a flag, eat hot dogs and watch fireworks this year.” He takes a deep breathe, trying to relax for a moment before exhaling through his mouth. “We elect a new leader next year, but a lot of damage can be done between now and then and there’s no guarantee that someone better will be elected. This guy in office didn’t even get the most votes.”

 **Votes?** Eddie can feel Venom thinking this through, using his own memories to see how elections should work. **How is that possible?**

“That’s another story, or maybe an internet search, but anyway, I’m sorry about the holiday, Vee. I know you’re a big fan of celebrations.”

Venom lies his head down on Eddie’s chest and without thinking, Eddie pets the back of his head like he’s a hairless cat. When he uses a finger to gently stroke between his eyes, he’d swear Venom purrs.

**I like holidays because they make you happy. But the food truck off Mission has grilled hot dogs. With onions and spicy sauce. We like them and we can eat them any time and not just on holidays.**

Eddie nods and says, “That’s true. Are we hungry?”

 **Always,** Venom answers, with his toothy grin smiling at Eddie and it automatically makes him feel better.

Venom pulls them both up and Eddie doesn’t fight it; at least he has a chance to grab his jacket and the keys to his bike.

**Also there’s a Jamaican restaurant in Oakland that is supposed to have good curried goat. Oakland is not far and we can eat there for our holiday dinner. Except it’s not, it’s a goat dinner.**

“Goat, eh?” Eddie gets on his bike, tucking Venom’s head in so he can see out the front of his jacket. Of course he can see without his head sticking out, but he seems to like the wind in his face. Eddie can understand that. “Yeah, I’ll call and be sure they’re open and we can do that. Where you’d hear about this place?” he asks, pulling down his helmet as they blend into traffic.

**Four stars on Yelp. And we don’t like fireworks, Eddie.**

Eddie grins as he drives them dinner, wondering how hard it is to make an apple pie. “No, love, we’ll be sure it’s quiet.”


End file.
